Sunday, February 06, 2011

Update on Brenda Namigadde

On 28th January Brenda Namigadde was placed on a 9:20pm flight en route to Uganda, by UK border officials. Then, at the eleventh hour, an injunction stopping her deportation was granted, and Brenda was taken off the flight shortly before takeoff.

From an e-mail by AllOut:

Brenda is scheduled to attend a High Court hearing on Monday morning to review her case. We are hoping the judge finally grants her asylum, but unfortunately we have plenty of reason to be skeptical: the British government is currently refusing up to 99% of asylum claims made by LGBT people.2

Luckily Brenda’s Member of Parliament, Andy Slaughter, is advocating strongly on her behalf. At a time when the Ugandan parliament is debating a law to make homosexuality punishable by death - and with last week’s murder of LGBT activist David Kato - he understands the grave danger Brenda faces. Slaughter has put forward an Early Day Motion3 in Parliament to pressure UK Immigration Minister Damian Green and UK Home Secretary Theresa May to intervene in Brenda’s case in the event that the court does not rule in her favour.

Our contact in Andy Slaughter’s office has told us that if even just a few dozen MPs sign this motion in the next few days, it will send a powerful message to Theresa May and the Home Office that they must intervene on Brenda’s behalf. Will you take a moment to ring your MP and ask them to sign on and support Brenda? It only takes 2 minutes and will make a huge difference:

2. Ask them to support Brenda. Here's a quick script to help:“Hello. My name is (YOUR NAME) and I’m one of (MP NAME)’s constituents. I’m calling today about the case of Brenda Namigadde, a lesbian who is in danger of being deported to Uganda where she faces grave danger. Please urge (MP NAME) to sign onto Early Day Motion 1385, sponsored by MP Andy Slaughter. The motion calls on the Government to exercise its powers to allow Brenda Namigadde to remain in the United Kingdom. I will continue to follow Brenda’s case closely and urge you to sign the motion today before her hearing at the High Court on Monday.”3. If you make a call, please reply directly to this email and let us know your MP’s response, so we can pass this information on to Brenda and her lawyer. On Monday, we want Brenda to know she still has our support, and we want the court to know how many others in the UK and around the world are standing by her side.

All best and All Out,Andre, Jeremy, Joseph, Tile, Wesley and the rest of the team at All Outwww.allout.org